Fracking Fact Sheet

The Association of American State Geologists (AASG) which represents the State Geologists of the
50 United States and Puerto Rico published a two page paper on Hydraulic Fracturing (Fracking) here (pdf).

Here are a few highlights:

Hydraulic fracturing was first used in the oil and gas industry in the U.S. in 1947.

After decades of hydraulic fracturing-related activity there is little evidence if any that hydraulic fracturing itself has contaminated fresh groundwater. No occurrences are known where hydraulic fracturing fluids have moved upward from the zone of fracturing of a horizontal well into the fresh drinking water.

In some areas, methane occurs in water wells because there is a natural source of methane within or just beneath the aquifer and in these cases methane was present in water wells long before drilling or the use of hydraulic fracturing.